1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive air conditioner having a plurality of independent air passages within a casing, and more particularly to an automotive air conditioner which can independently air-condition a plurality of portions within a passenger compartment of a vehicle.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei. 11-86750 and No. 2000-9529, which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some of conventional automotive air conditioners, the driving seat and the front passenger seat are independently air-conditioned. In recent years, however, there is growing a demand for an independent air-conditioning for the rear seats, as well as those front seats.
This demand can easily be realized by utilizing a plurality of automotive air conditioners, but in view of the fact that there is not much extra space in the narrow passenger compartment, it is desirable that the demand is satisfied with a single automotive air conditioner.
Independent air-conditioning for the front and rear seats means that a separate air-conditioning part has to be provided independently within an automotive air conditioner provided in front of the front seats. It is relatively easy to provide the separate air-conditioning part as an independent unit in the automotive air conditioner.
As described above, however, in view of the actual state in which the passenger compartment is narrow, providing less extra space therein and in which there is growing a strong demand for making the automotive air conditioner more and more compact, it is not realistic or even possible to provide a separate independent air-conditioning unit in a single automotive air conditioner, and therefore, currently an early solution to this problem has been long waited for.
The present invention was made with a view to solving the aforesaid technical problem, and an object thereof is to provide an automotive air conditioner in which two or more small air passages are formed within a single unit and which can independently condition air flows flowing through the respective small air passages to certain temperatures.
The object of the present invention is to be attained with the following means.
(1) According to a first feature of the invention, there is provided an automotive air conditioner wherein an upstream side air passage in which an evaporator is provided and a downstream side air passage through which an air flow cooled by the evaporator flows are formed within a casing and wherein a door is provided in the downstream side air passage for allowing the air flow from the upstream side air passage to selectively flow toward a heater core provided in the downstream side air passage or a bypass air passage which bypasses the heater core, or to flow at a predetermined ratio into the heater core and the bypass air passage, the door being disposed in such a manner as to slide in a direction to shut off the air flow, the automotive air conditioner being characterized in that the downstream side air passage is partitioned by a plurality of partition plates extending along a direction in which the air flow flows such that at least two or more independent small air passages are formed therein, in that the door is provided for the small air passages so formed, respectively, and in that the respective doors are constructed so as to be caused to slide independently from the outside of the casing.
(2) According to a second feature of the invention, there is provided an automotive air conditioner wherein a door is provided between an upstream side air passage and a downstream side air passage both formed in a casing for allowing an air flow from the upstream side air passage to flow into the downstream side air passage in one air stream or two branched air streams, the door being constructed so as to be driven by a driving mechanism, the automotive air conditioner being characterized in that the driving mechanism having toothed portions formed in both sides of the door along a direction in which the door moves, gears adapted to be brought into mesh engagement with the toothed portions, respectively and a driving source provided outside the casing, and in that one of the gears adapted to be brought into mesh engagement with the toothed portions is made to be a driving gear adapted to be driven by the driving source, while the other gear is made to be a follower gear adapted to be rotated by the toothed portion formed in the door.
(3) According to a third feature of the invention, there is provided an automotive air conditioner wherein the respective doors are disposed on a plane extending in a direction to shut off the air flow.
(4) According to a fourth feature of the invention, there is provided an automotive air conditioner wherein in the driving mechanism, the gears for the door provided for the intermediately positioned small air passage of the three or more small air passages are rotatably supported on the partition plates.
(5) According to a fifth feature of the invention, there is provided an automotive air conditioner wherein in the driving mechanism, external gears adapted to directly receive a force from the driving sources and the driving gears adapted to be brought into mesh engagement with the toothed portions formed in the respective doors are disposed on the same axis, and in that a double-shaft construction is adopted for shafts for driving the driving gears and the external gears.
Features and advantages of the invention will be evident from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments described in conjunction with the attached drawings.